The Romans saw the death of a bird as an omen. Armies would turn back if a dead bird was seen.
I was walking to work once and out of nowhere a pigeon fell straight down (thud) dead on to the ground in front of me…it must have been sitting on the telephone wires above me and just died at that moment…it was so weird…at first I thought someone had thrown it at me but there was no one to be seen.